Editor's Foreword.

Abstract

Editor's Foreword Michael Blackie To celebrate Literature and Medicine's 40th anniversary, I asked four previous Executive Editors, all of whom remain actively involved with the journal, to reflect on their experiences. Anne Hudson Jones's piece, "Literature and Medicine: The First Decade," provides a detailed account of the journal's creation, what motivated the visionaries behind it, and the conversations it initiated. In "Literature and Medicine 2000–2007," Maura Spiegel and Rita Charon trace the journal's fundamental contribution to the emergence and development of illness narratives as a genre. And Catherine Belling reminds us in "Communicable (Literature and Medicine 2013–2018)" to pay attention to language, especially now that 2020 has shown us how connected culture is to biology. I also asked Book Review Editor Travis Chi Wing Lau, and Managing Editor Anna Fenton-Hathaway, to speak to their invaluable contributions to the journal's continuing success. Travis's piece, "An Editorial Philosophy of Book Reviews," reimagines the genre as conversations in which the work of caring becomes possible. And Anna's contribution, "Apprehensions of a Canon: Literature and Medicine 2013–2022," draws from nearly a decade of experience working with authors across disciplines. But it belies her importance to the journal—and to me. In the three years we have worked together, she has become a cherished colleague and an unflappable friend. My own piece, "2020 and Beyond," a collaboration of sorts with Comics Editor MK Czerwiec, outlines the changes I have made to the journal since becoming Executive Editor and looks ahead to the critical conversations about health and the body I would like to see Literature and Medicine become more active in. These reflective pieces appear in Front Matter. One final note. In her piece on the journal's beginnings, Anne recounts how Johns Hopkins University Press initially agreed to publish the journal provided its founding editors secured a guarantor to cover any production costs that exceeded the revenues it made. "The Institute for the Medical Humanities," where Anne built the field's first doctoral program, "at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston [End Page 201] agreed to sponsor the journal and guarantee payment of any financial shortfall."1 In 2020, thanks to the efforts of Anne and Catherine, the Press took complete ownership of the journal, thereby releasing Galveston of its financial obligations. This transfer is momentous. It validated the years of work the journal's Executive Editors, including Suzanne Poirier (1994–2000) and Charles Anderson (2007–2012), poured into this scholarly endeavor. My colleagues' reflections bear witness to the effort this achievement demanded of them and model for me what ensuring the journal's future requires. NOTES 1. See Jones, "Literature and Medicine," in this issue. BIBLIOGRAPHY Jones, Anne Hudson. "Literature and Medicine: The First Decade." Literature and Medicine 40, no. 2 (Fall 2022). Google Scholar Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press